1. Cognitive and Behavioral Correlates of Low Vitamin B12 Levels in Elderly Patients With Progressive Dementia
- Author
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Robert A. Sweet, William E. Klunk, Meryl A. Butters, Moshin Qayyum, Steven T. DeKosky, Steve Wisniewski, Benoit H. Mulsant, Adele L. Towers, and Ellen M. Whyte
- Subjects
Vitamin b ,medicine.medical_specialty ,business.industry ,Progressive dementia ,Cognition ,medicine.disease ,Psychiatry and Mental health ,Elderly persons ,Internal medicine ,medicine ,Dementia ,Vitamin B12 ,Geriatrics and Gerontology ,Alzheimer's disease ,business ,Cognitive impairment ,Psychiatry - Abstract
Vitamin B 12 deficiency is common in elderly persons, yet its role in dementia and psychiatric illness is unclear. The authors examined the relationship between vitamin B 12 serum levels and cognitive and neuropsychiatric symptoms in dementia. Community-dwelling elderly subjects (N = 643) meeting NINCDS-ADRDA criteria for probable or possible Alzheimer disease (AD) underwent comprehensive neuropsychiatric evaluation and measurement of vitamin B 12 serum levels. Thirty-seven subjects (5.7%) had low B 12 serum levels (200 pcg/ml or less). Subjects with low B 12 levels were significantly older and had significantly lower scores on the Mini-Mental State Exam and higher scores on the Blessed Dementia Scale, but not a different pattern of cognitive or behavior disturbances compared with the normal-B 12 subjects. In AD, the prevalence of low vitamin B 12 serum levels is consistent with that found in community-dwelling elderly persons in general but is associated with greater overall cognitive impairment.
- Published
- 2002
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